Bavette

'Well done, Bavette, for getting me outside the M25,' a reader cheers. Quite a way outside too, but the journey to Leeds was evidently worth it to dine at Sandy Jarvis and Clément Cousin's convivial neighbourhood bistro in the northerly suburb of Horsforth. Shelves of books on deep green walls create a smart domestic ambience, and the food does the rest.

It's a Franco-Yorkshire alliance in every sense (M Cousin hails from Anjou on the Loire), and the menu reflects that collaborative spirit. Start with pork and prune pâté en croûte with the house mustard for an inimitably Gallic appetiser experience. Starters might embrace light crab tartelette with fennel, pea shoots and saffron aïoli, before the speciality bavette makes an appearance, tricked out with French beans and frites – the kind of sturdy main course that won't let you down. A more domestic route might yield plaice with potted shrimps, rainbow chard and Jersey Royals.

Italian Candonga could well be a strawberry variety you haven't tried, appearing here in season on Basque cheesecake with yoghurt sorbet; otherwise, the dessert list is pure bistro French – perhaps St Emilion au chocolat or raspberry frangipane with matching sorbet. Wines delve into some of the less heavily trodden byways of France for Jurançon Sec, Gaillac and the Cousin family's own Anjou Cabernet Franc and Grolleau Gris.